Abortion rate down for the rich... but up for the poor: How women below the poverty line are terminating more unintended pregnancies

The abortion rate among women with the lowest income climbed from 44 to 53 per 1,000 between 2000 and 2008

Study follows weeks after federal budget deal which included a 5.5 per cent cut in funding to help low-income women get birth control

Experts estimate nearly one in three women in the U.S. will have an abortion by age 45 if climb continues

Abortion rates have inched lower in most groups of U.S. women, but not among poor women, where they are still on the rise, according to a new study.

The report, in the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology, comes as the U.S. federal and state governments begin to make funding cuts that could limit access to family planning services for the lowest income women.

Among U.S. women aged 15 to 44, the national abortion rate declined from 21 abortions for every 1,000 women to 20 per 1,000 between the years 2000 and 2008.

But the abortion rate among women with the lowest income - below the
U.S. poverty line - climbed from 44 to 53 abortions per 1,000 in the
same time period.

Economic factors: Experts suggest the recession contributed to the rise as women became less likely to afford contraception or to support a child

Those women accounted for 16 of every 100 U.S. women aged 15 to 44 by 2008, but for 42 of every 100 abortions.

According to an ABC News report, experts estimate nearly one in three women in the U.S. will have an abortion by age 45 if the climb continues.

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Rachel Jones of the Guttmacher Institute, a New York-based
non-profit organisation that studies reproductive health issues, led the research.

She said reasons for the rise were unclear, but one could be the
economic recession, which likely hit the poorest women the hardest,
making them less likely to be able to afford contraception or to support
a child.

MALE REPUBLICAN COMPARED HAVING HEALTH INSURANCE FOR POST-RAPE ABORTION TO HAVING SPARE TYRE ON CAR

Earlier this month, Kansas legislators approved restrictions on private insurance coverage
for abortions in a measure that prohibits insurance companies from offering coverage of
abortions as part of their general health plans, except when a woman's
life is at risk.

Abortion rights supporters are sceptical, believing the bill's backers want to cut off a way for women to cover the cost of terminating pregnancies.

And Rep Barbara Bollier, a Mission Hills Republican who supports abortion rights, questioned whether women would buy abortion-only policies long before they have crisis or unwanted pregnancies or are rape victims.

During the House's debate, Rep Pete DeGraaf, a Mulvane Republican who supports the bill, told her: 'We do need to plan ahead, don't we, in life?'

Bollier asked him, 'And so women need to plan ahead for issues that they have no control over with a pregnancy?'

DeGraaf drew groans of protest from some House members when he responded, 'I have spare tyre on my car.'

'I also have life insurance,' he added. 'I have a lot of things that I plan ahead for.'

She told Reuters: 'We weren't necessarily surprised by the findings,
because they're a continuation of what we'd seen in the 1990s.'

Whatever the reasons, she said, the findings underscore a need to prevent more unplanned pregnancies among poor women.

'We have not been improving poor women's ability to access family planning services. In fact, we've been making it harder,' she said.

The recent federal budget deal included a 5.5 per cent cut in funding for Title X, a 40-year-old federal program that helps low-income women get birth control and other services, though not abortions, at family planning clinics.

A number of states have either passed or are considering measures to cut state funding for family planning services, on the basis that some clinics also perform abortions.

Public funding for family planning comes from several different sources, with the biggest chunk - 71 per cent -- from Medicaid, the federal health insurance program for the poor, according to the Guttmacher Institute.

The Title X program accounts for about 12 per cent, while state appropriations contribute 13 per cent.

Reproductive health advocates have argued that Title X is a vital source of revenue for many family planning clinics, giving them the resources for things like outreach to low-income women, which Medicaid cannot do.

'We need to be increasing funding for family planning services, not decreasing it,' Jones said.